FAIRVIEW VILLAGE — Coming in with a 7-6 record in the PAC-10, Perkiomen Valley needed a win Wednesday against first-place Methacton to stay in the Pioneer Athletic Conference playoff hunt. They gave the ball to Quinn Kelly.

Kelly delivered, throwing six strong innings, leading the Vikings to a crucial 4-2 victory over Methacton.

“I was definitely nervous at first,” Kelly said. “The first couple innings, I was a little shaky. I settled down once I saw that my defense was doing well behind me.

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“I just started using them and it took a lot of pressure off,” he said.

Now at 8-6 in the league, the Vikings are a still 1 1/2 games out of the final playoff spot. In the wild PAC-10, they are also 1 1/2 games out of first place.

Methacton (10-5 league) is part of a three-way tie for first place with Spring-Ford and Phoenixville.

Kelly and Methacton starter Tim Carfrey were able to hold each offense in check through two innings.

The Warriors dinged Kelly for the first run of the game in the third, on Glenn Seymour’s RBI single.

“They were huge,” PV coach Ryan Hinkle said about the hits. “For some reason this year we’ve been a two-out team. Those two-out RBI are key in a situation like that. Chase Ott’s been struggling as of late, so it’s a good confidence booster for him.”

“We’re starting to really play as a team,” Kelly said of the offense behind him. “These hits that keep coming along with two outs, it’s awesome.”

Kelly nearly washed that advantage away in the top half of the fourth.

He loaded the bases on two singles and a walk to Methacton’s six through eight hitters. After an RBI fielder’s choice by Zach Harmon, Kelly struck leadoff batter Tyler Kirkpatrick out looking and fielded a weak comebacker hit by Carfrey to end the inning.

“Not walk another guy,” Kelly said about his approach after loading the bags. “Same thing really, making sure I don’t leave the ball out in front of the plate for them to hit. Keep keeping them off balance and just hitting my spots.”

“To see him battle back and work hitters the way he’s supposed to, it’s really all that I can ask for,” Hinkle said of Kelly.

Kelly gave up only two runs through six innings before getting pulled after allowing the first two Warrior batters to reach in the seventh. Hinkle called Jay Jabs’ number, and Jabs delivered, striking out the heart of the Methacton lineup after an error loaded the bases.

“That was a tough spot,” said Methacton coach Jeff Musselman. “I’m not going to point any fingers. We just have to be more patient and hit what we want to hit.

“We just didn’t get some timely hits,” he continued. “We left some people on base. We can’t keep doing (if we want) to win.”

Despite the win, Hinkle said the Vikings weren’t without things to work on.

“We left our share of runners on base,” he said. “That was something that really could have hurt us. We had a runner on third base that didn’t score three times. That’s stuff that we’ve got to execute moving forward.”

Methacton’s next game is Friday at home against Spring-Ford at 4 p.m. Perk Valley will take on Pottstown at home at 7 p.m. Thursday.